Longer Screen Time for Charge Trackers

[SunsetRunner]

I purchased my charge 3 after seeing it would have a Screen Time out Option.  It shipped without one.  Moderator Kate says it’s not available at this time.  The manual is now being changed to reflect that.

I really, really want/need that option.  It was the reason I chose the Charge.  That and my 50’s year old eyes.  The current screen only stays on for 3-4 seconds.  That is a very short amount of time.  I have to repeated tap the screen to read a text that comes in.  IF we are going to have the ability to get notifications, we need the ability to read them.

Please Fitbit, give us the option that was originally in the manual to change the screen time out.  The Versa has it, so I know it can be done.

Moderator edit: Title

[Sammie1966]

LOL, this is realy hilarious !! Just insane ! thats all they do at fitbit costumer service !!! Moving items to places where you will be forgotten and never ever will here anything from fit bit again!
They should be ashamed!!

[whybenorm]

Under Consideration?!?!?  Since when?  We've been abandoned!

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Ianmb73. Thanks for explaining why you'd like to have a longer screen time on your Charge 3 with us. I've moved it into a similar suggestion which has been updated as "Under Consideration". You can check this other suggestion here.  To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs. Watch this space for status updates!

[whybenorm]

 

MarcelBK 

 

Fitbit Alum

‎12-22-18 04:14

Status changed to: Released

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing this suggestion. We’re very happy to let you know that this has been released on both Fitbit Versa and Ionic on the latest Firmware Release, Fitbit OS 3.0. Now you can keep the screen on for as long as 60 seconds! @horse482 as you've submitted a high quality suggestion, you will now receive a higher voting weight worth 5 votes. Thank you for sharing your ideas and enthusiasm with the community - this suggestion is now a reality! Enjoy.

We just created a new Feature Suggestion about having the ability to keep the screen on permanently. Please vote for that idea here.

The above was a moderator comment in 12/18 on a thread that started the short screen time complaint in 2017.  If they can do this for the other devices when they released the charge 3, why can't they do it for the charge 3?  Well, fitbit?!?  The other one had 6709 votes, are we just not enough customers complaining for this model it isn't worth it?  Tell us SOMETHING!  You keep moving new suckers to this forum that bought the charge 3 before they knew about the fatal flaw in it, but this forum only shows you don't care about your charge 3 customers. People were complaining about this problem on other models back in 2017, and you fixed it for them, why would still release a model that had such a short screen time?!?!?

[whybenorm]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing this suggestion. We’re very happy to let you know that this has been released on both Fitbit Versa and Ionic on the latest Firmware Release, Fitbit OS 3.0. Now you can keep the screen on for as long as 60 seconds! @horse482 as you've submitted a high quality suggestion, you will now receive a higher voting weight worth 5 votes. Thank you for sharing your ideas and enthusiasm with the community - this suggestion is now a reality! Enjoy.

We just created a new Feature Suggestion about having the ability to keep the screen on permanently. Please vote for that idea here.

The above was a moderator comment in 12/18 on a thread that started the short screen time complaint in 2017.  If they can do this for the other devices when they released the charge 3, why can't they do it for the charge 3?  Well, fitbit?!?  The other one had 6709 votes, are we just not enough customers complaining for this model it isn't worth it?  Tell us SOMETHING!  You keep moving new suckers to this forum that bought the charge 3 before they knew about the fatal flaw in it, but this forum only shows you don't care about your charge 3 customers. People were complaining about this problem on other models back in 2017, and you fixed it for them, why would still release a model that had such a short screen time?!?!?

[Moirmanja]

Sorry Fitbit, it's 2020 now, you've lost two potential customers. Looking for what should be a simple solution to a newly purchased product..to find a community that's been asking for that solution for over a year with no response equals bad business. There are alternatives.

[Yahgiggle]

under Consideration for two years now, lets get real Fitbit have no plan on
fixing this and are just stringing people along, they have already said its
not going to happen a number of times oO so stop the BS and tell new users
the truth so they can decide to return the charge 3 or not.

[Yahgiggle]

lost me and everyone i know too as i tell everyone about the lack of fixing
something so simple, i show them all my charge 3 and they all say the same
thing, hell i at getting a fitbit that on screen time is BS the best thing
about not fixing it, is i have proof right with me to show everyone how
useless fitbits are

[Edededdy]

I just bought the Charge 3 this weekend on the advice of my daughter who has a better model. Neither of us were aware the Charge 3 has limitations nor that it had only a 3 second window to try reading the display. I am 54 years old and it takes me about that much time to alter the focus of my eyes to read the display. Even a six second window would be far better than the 3 second window. Tilting my wrist back and forth does not always show the display either and rapid shaking does absolutely nothing. It looks ridiculous to do it repetitively just to see the time. Using it on a treadmill is impossible as i have to hold on with one hand so i cant be pressing the button either.

Frankly i am very disappointed with the product as none of this is made clear on the packaging.

Is there a third party app that works with the Charge 3 to extend the on time or should i just take it back?

[Sammie1966]

Fit bit strikes again !! Welcome to the dark side !
Return your C3 while
You still can !!!

[Yahgiggle]

Return it and get another brand of smart watch Fitbit won't be fixing this
and don't even bother replying to everyone on here 😡

[jennifer2882]

Take it back! We’ve been waiting over a year for this option!

Sent from my iPhone

[jennifer2882]

Take it back!  We’ve been waiting over a year for this.  I wish I had returned mine while I could.  It is now just an expensive paperweight!

[NoKneed]

I suggest posting a complaint on the Fitbit Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=fitbit&epa=SEARCH_BOX

... and the Facebook Twitter page:

[pad9k]

Hi.

With the lack of better words, I’ll try my very best to express my disappointment. Keep in mind that English is not my native language.

It is now 2020 and this suggest is by now more than a whole year old. We’ve seen no post, no news, no nothing about such a small feature for the Charge 3 and it is genuinely extremely disappointing. It is beyond me that a company, even now owned by Google(?!), has still not responded to this simple addition that improves the overall quality of life for many of its customers.

Where is this 2.1+ billion company and what in the world is going on? There is NO chance on earth that I will ever be able to recommend a Fitbit product after waiting this long.

There are still a lot of people waiting for this...

It’s sad that a lot of people will buy these products and not be able to return them by the time they notice there are no intentions to improve the products firmware and such.

Best of luck.

Kind regards,

Patrik

[NoKneed]

I know it's a pain, posting on this Board does not seem to be getting anywhere. Please make this more visible, especially for those contemplating buying a Charge 3:

Please Post on Fitbit's Twitter @FitbitSupport:

https://twitter.com/FitbitSupport

AND

Fitbit's Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=fitbit&epa=SEARCH_BOX

[Ianparky]

3 seconds!! You lucky lucky b@$tard$, what I wouldn't give for 3 seconds! I would say mine is barely 2 and a half. It's like a bad joke. My first Fitbit and I'm perplexed this is the case. Totally ruining the experience for me and I'm thinking of getting my money back.

[FluffyMama]

Please SERIOUSLY consider the option to set a longer screen on time for the Fitbit Charge 3. It has been super annoying to have to continuously  shake my arm or push the side button to read my stats or notifications.

[Polarbreeze]

I got my new Charge 3 today and it's impossible to use because the display only stays on for 5 seconds at a time. That's not enough time even to move back my shirt sleeve and focus on the tiny display. I assumed that this would be configurable in the settings - but amazingly it's not!!! This is a really serious shortcoming of this product. I understand it has an impact on battery life but it should be up to the user to make this tradeoff through the device settings. I'm not asking for minutes because I'm sure that would be a battery life problem. But if it were configurable I'd probably set it at 10 secs or so. The problem is that 5 SECONDS IS UNUSABLE for me. It's really crazy, crazy short - very poor user interface design.

[Yahgiggle]

take it back NOW fitbit are not going to fix this problem

[Sammie1966]

RETURN NOW !!! Fitbit is not going to fix this !!!

[KJF11]

“Our system shows that there is a Fitbit Charge 3 connected to the account under your email address and it last sync today, Jan 20, 2020 at 09:38:30 PM with the battery level of 92%.

The screen timeout setting isn’t available on Charge 3. We removed the incorrect image from the manual. We know that it would be great to have a longer screen timeout for the Charge 3. You can vote for this idea and add your comments on https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Longer-Screen-Time-for-Charge-3/idi-p/3000626. 

We understand where you're coming from and we apologize any inconvenience this may have caused you. We recognize the limitations we have on our part particularly on what you have experienced. Nevertheless, we thank you so much for being a part of the growing Fitbit family.”

I then replied saying I and thousands of others had suggested/voted for this feature and got this...

“We're constantly striving to improve Fitbit products and services, and we very much appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. Reagarding your question about exchanging your current Charge 3 for a different device, we would like to share that we can only exchange devices purchased on fitbit.com within 45-days after the purchase date and this exchange is only applicable for the same device model in a different size or color, we can't exchange a device for a different model.”

[whybenorm]

Translation:  We know we hobbled our product before we even released it.  Some stupid idiot had a good idea and we snuffed it out from the get go but it slipped into the manual.  We took that away too.  We have your money.  Too bad. Suck it up.

[mohican21]

Well folks, my suggestion is that everyone should on this page should vote with their feet and get rid of their lame duck Charge 3 while they still can.  Fortunately for me, I bought mine at Costco, so I had no trouble returning it.  Ironically, that store is currently offering the Versa 2 for 50 bucks off.  But now that I've seen how Fitbit treats its customer, I'm never buying another one of their products again.

And the other serious issue I have with the Charge 3 is that it won't track any activities if I turn off location on my phone.  Fitbit says it's because of the way Google has implemented Location in Android.  Nice try, but who owns Fitbit now?  Google!  Gives them plausible deniability to blame big bad Google, but it's obvious that Google is doing everything it can to persuade us to keep location on at all times, so they can keep tracking us, and show us more advertising.

I'm so done with being led around by the nose by Google and Fitbit.

Adios!

[NoKneed]

If you want to return it, do it now. I would not count on Fitbit changing
the time. We’ve been asking about a year and there are thousands of
requests for this.

[Jayarrh]

I agree fully, ability to select a longer timeout would be great, accepting battery life might be reduced.